Charts & Numbers

(Reuters) - The Commercial Bank of Kuwait was awaiting approval from the central bank to transform into an Islamic lender, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. “CBK has made a request to the central bank to transform all its activities to comply with Islamic law after the central bank gave conventional banks the chance to transform within a limited period,” al-Qabas newspaper quoted Chief Executive Jamal al-Mutawa as saying, paraphrasing his remarks. “The presence of one or two other banking units that operate in line with sharia will not harm the market at all,” Mutawa said. CBK said on Sunday it could raise its stake in Syrian Islamic lender Cham Bank to up to 30 percent from 10 percent.

(Reporting by Rania el-Gamal, Editing by Inal Ersan)

Although it seems as though the decision will be imminent this process will take years upon years for it to be concluded. Kuwait International Bank (KIB) has been awaiting approval since the millennium. The Central Bank has given the banks the right to apply to become Islamic banks and since then the banking sector has flocked to apply to get the ‘approval.’ Awaiting the approval does not nessesarily mean that the banks will transform into Islamic institutions. Once the approval has been granted it will be decided upon based on the markets needs at that time. Expected Central Bank approval will be between 5 to 10 years, if at all. This is all due to the demand of Sharia Compliant banking and the immense growth they are generating when compared to conventional banks.